Recently, liquid crystal displays (LCD) have been widely applied in electrical products due to the rapid progress of optical and semiconductor technology. Due to the advantages of high image quality, compact size, light weight, low driving voltage, and low power consumption, LCDs have been introduced into many portable electronic apparatuses, e.g. portable computers, mobile phones, video cameras, personal digital assistants, and various consumer electronics. The portable electronic apparatuses employ LCDs not only to enhance the displaying function thereof but also to make user operation convenient.
In addition, with the progress in the telecommunication industry in combination with the rapid progress in optical and semiconductor technology, mobile phones have become ever smaller and lighter weight. New features are added in the mobile phones with each passing day; for example, sending newsletters and e-mail, accessing the Internet, and playing games. Furthermore, a powerful mobile phone can provide personal digital assistant (PDA) functionality.
The display size of the mobile phone has been increasing for the convenience of operating various functions thereof. Accordingly, the keys for operating the various functions have also increased. The single structure mobile phone such as the candy-bar type does not have enough area to fit the keys thereon. Therefore, a clamshell type and a slide type mobile phone have been introduced to enlarge the areas of the display and the keyboard for convenient operation.
In the slide type mobile phone, the keyboard is slid out from the backside of the display for dialing telephone numbers or inputting data. Some of the slide type mobile phones require sliding out the keyboard using both hands, causing the operation to be inconvenient. Other slide type mobile phones provide an automatic open capability with a complicated and expensive mechanism to allow sliding out the keyboard with a single hand.